Nightvision is
Mark Van Hoen's first album under his birth name since the preceding
The Revenant Diary in 2012 -- the producer issued You'll Be Safe Forever (2013) and After the Rain (2014) as
Locust. During that time,
Van Hoen was involved with
Children of the Stones and
Black Hearted Brother, rather disparate and more collaborative projects that likewise yielded albums. On
Nightvision, there's a well-defined connection to the free-floating ambient Krautrock that informed all of After the Rain, but
Van Hoen also puts new twists on his frost-coated beats. He pays tribute to
Tangerine Dream leader and electronic music pioneer
Edgar Froese (who died in early 2015) with a two-part, eight-minute requiem that recalls certain aspects of the electronic music pioneer's discography while still sounding like a
Van Hoen creation. "Socrates' Books" and "I Love to Fly," vaguely tranquilizing and terrifying at the same time, along with the beat-less "The Night Sky," are also up there with
Van Hoen's best. He still hasn't made a poor or even middling album. ~ Andy Kellman